BIRD CRADLES. 
45 
ported by the bend of a bramble and a matter in which the volition of the bird 
stalks of hard-hack and meadow rue. had no j^art whatever ! 
I did not see the birds, as the nest was It has always been a favorite 2:)astime 
abandoned, and tliou*^!! not a typical with me, in my autumn walks, this dis- 
vireo’s nest, it was so conspicuously secting of abandoned nests of all kinds, 
decked out with edi¬ 
torials and advertise¬ 
ments that, out of re¬ 
spect to Wilson, I 
was constrained to 
accei:)t it as a bad 
case of “ the Politi¬ 
cian.” 
It has remained for 
the red - eyed vireo, 
however, to reward 
my curious pains for 
enlightenment as to 
the edito¬ 
rial dis¬ 
ci’ i m i n a- 
tio n of 
these 
A Bit of Lace. 
nests, and considering the popular name 
which Wilson has bestowed upon the 
bird, “ the Preacher,” from its well- 
known habit of launching precepts by 
the hour from its tree-top pulpit—the 
text from my nest would certainly seem 
to reinforce his happy title. In this 
nest are about six pieces of newspaper, 
of various jagged shapes and sizes ; but 
among them all the only complete sen¬ 
tence anywhere to be discovered in tlie 
print—and this appearing as though ob¬ 
viously treasured — is the following ; 
“ Have in view the will of God.” 
And yet I suppose there are tliose 
who would affirm that this selection was 
then disclosed to view in the denuded 
woods—this unravelling of the warp and 
woof of these nature-woven fabrics, ex¬ 
tracting the secrets of the downy bed of 
warblers, analyzing the queer compo¬ 
nents in the hollow of a stump, picking 
apart the felted masses in deserted wood- 
jieckers’ dens, since plainly occupied by 
chickadee, creeper, blue-bird, nuthatch, 
or crested flycatcher, and disclosing by 
the aid of a magnifier a wide variety of 
curious textile elements. How endless 
and whimsical the choice of buildinsf 
materials for which nature has been laid 
in tribute by the bird, from the tree-top 
cradles of the orioles to the soft feather- 
